Did you know that men are three times more likely to get a girl's phone number when they have a dog by their side? They're the ultimate wingmen, and once we have one in our lives, we couldn't imagine things being any other way. But how is it possible that we can have such a strong emotional connection with an animal that can't even speak the same language?
As the latest episode of AsapSCIENCE explains, dogs do speak the same language as us - we both respond to emotional sounds in very similar ways. When your dog hears you crying or laughing, MRI scans have shown that the response in its brain is similar to that of human. In fact, when they hear a human crying, they actually interpret the sound as another dog whining, which is why you'll likely get a concerned, or at least inquisitive, response.
Got a dog that's a little too emotionally invested in you? Leaving some clothes around that smell like you will help treat any separation anxiety they might feel when you're not around. It might sound like something you'd do to comfort an infant, and that's about right, because as the video above explains, dogs are about as intelligent as a two-year-old human. Aww.
Dogs have the capacity to learn up to 150 words, count to five, and can even understand simple arithmetic. One plus one equals three? Don't try to slip that past your well-trained furry friend, he'll know something's up. They're also naturally skilled in spatial awareness, with the ability to figure out the quickest route to the park and manipulate levers and handles when given the right motivation.
And while dogs aren't as colour blind as you've maybe been told, they're not exactly tuned in to all the colours of the rainbow either. They can only perceive black, white, blue, and yellow, which means there's colour in a dog's life, just not a lot of it. Here's what it actually looks like.
So yeah, our perfect pals can't see as many colours as we can, and they can't tell you what the square root of anything is, but they're better than us at a whole range of skills, including sniffing out a seizure before it happens, detecting low blood sugar, and sniffing out cancer. How is this possible? Watch the latest episode of AsapSCIENCE above to find out.